Austin AFCA All-American

WACO, TEXAS — West Virginia University senior Tavon Austin was named to the 2012 AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America Team, announced today by the American Football Coaches Association.

Austin, who made the team as an all-purpose player, is currently ranked second in the country in all-purpose yards per game while leading the Mountaineers with 106 catches to go along with 1,149 yards and 12 touchdowns.

As a ball carrier, Austin shows 521 yards and two touchdowns while also adding more than 800 yards in punt and kickoff returns.

The AFCA has selected an All-America team since 1945 and currently selects teams in all five of its divisions. What makes these teams so special is that they are the only ones chosen exclusively by the men who know the players the best — the coaches themselves.

Team Background:?The teams now chosen for each of the AFCA’s five?divisions evolved from a single 11-player squad in 1945. From 1945 until 1967, only one team was chosen. From 1967 through 1971, two teams, University Division and College Division, were selected. In 1972, the College Division was split into College I and College II. In 1979, the University Division was split into two teams — Division I-A and Division I-AA. In 1996, the College I and College II teams were renamed Division II?and Division III,?respectively. In 2006, the Division I-A and Division I-AA teams were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)?and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS),?respectively. The AFCA started selecting an NAIA All-America Team in 2006.

Top Team: Oklahoma has had the most players named to the AFCA?Coaches’ All-America Team. The Sooners have been represented 61 times by 52 players on the AFCA?team. They are followed by Notre Dame (57/50); Ohio State (57/43); USC (55/48); Michigan (54/48); Alabama (51/50); Nebraska (51/46); Texas (46/40); Georgia (35/29) and UCLA (34/32).

Top Conference: The Big 12 boasts the most AFCA?FBS Coaches’ All-America Team representatives among current conference members with 262, just ahead of the Big Ten at 254 representatives. Following those two are the Southeastern Conference (252), the Pac-12 (183), Atlantic Coast (170), Big East (67), Western Athletic (62), Mountain West (55), Conference USA (51), Sun Belt (40) and Mid-American (30) (Totals include school All-America selections in all divisions).

One Player, Two Schools:?Punter Mark Bounds is the only player to earn Coaches’ All-America honors at two different schools. He was named to the AFCA?College Division I?team in 1990 while playing for West Texas A&M. He transferred to Texas Tech after West Texas dropped football and earned I-A All-America honors as a Red Raider in 1991.

Consecutive Years: Notre Dame holds the record for consecutive years with at least one player on the AFCA Coaches’ All-America Team at 19 seasons (1963-1981). Neb­raska had at least one player 12 straight seasons (1978-1989). Michigan (1969-1979), Oklahoma (1971-1981), USC (1972-82) and Miami (Fla.) (1984-1994) are next with 11 straight seasons. Pitts­burgh placed one player on the AFCA team for 10 straight seasons from 1975-1984.